


Are You Afraid of Me?

by bledstars



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24600004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bledstars/pseuds/bledstars
Summary: The logical thing would be to say yes, and he was a logical man. But sometimes, logic just didn't fit into the situation. Sometimes...it was just a gut feeling. And his gut was telling him to say: No.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 7
Kudos: 119





	Are You Afraid of Me?

_“Are you afraid of me?”_

The first time he heard it, she still had the blood of the man that attempted to take the life of the princess splattered across her. The silver haired princess only stared at her in awe, as did the prince from the north. They looked at her with something akin to fear, how quickly her blade took another’s life, how swiftly she was able to cut down another man without a second thought.

It wouldn’t have been shocking if it was Jeralt the blade breaker, whose stories did not do him justice. But she couldn’t have been more than one or two years older than them. She, who barely had a cut on her despite the intense fight between her and the now dead man before her. 

And maybe he was a little afraid. 

It wasn’t the blood that splattered her face. It wasn’t the fact that she easily cut down without a second thought. It wasn’t her speed, her skill, her swordsmanship that would bring shame to so many of the teachers at the academy. 

It was her eyes, her eyes that were devoid of any emotion. It was the emptiness that he saw when he looked into her eyes. An emptiness that minced that of the dark seas that were to the east. Dark, deep, dangerous. Eyes that he could see himself get lost in and not come back up. Like the black seas that whipped across the coast of his home, her eyes were empty yet so full.The logical thing would be to say yes, and he was a logical man. But sometimes, logic just didn't fit into the situation. Sometimes...it was just a gut feeling. And his gut was telling him to say: No. 

It made his heart skip a beat, it made something catch in the back of his throat, and a part of him wondered if he was a masochist (spoiler: he was, is, and always would be.). But he tugged his lips into a smile, and cocked his head to the side. 

“If you think that a little blood can get us scared, then you didn’t hear the part where we said we were from the officer’s academy.” 

Was that a small twinkle in her eye? She just simply turned around and he wondered if that was an indication that she found him amusing, interesting, completely enchanting. Or maybe that was just him. 

_ “Are you afraid of me?” _

She asked with a hint of amusement as she knocked the blade out of his hand again watching it fly across the training ground. The stupid Lord exam required that he learned the blade, and while he wasn’t new to the weapon, he wasn’t like Teach, who had years of experience or one of the knights in training from the Blue Lions.And it wasn’t like he could show off the way he’d handle a sword in the first place. It didn’t look like the swordsmanship here, it didn’t look like a fodlan sword. It looked too—much like who he really was. The part of him that he was to keep a secret until the time was right. 

So for now, he’d suffer as she knocked him down again and again and again. It should really be concerning how he much he didn’t mind it when it was her. Was he a masochist? 

He groaned as he rolled to his side and got back up. And then she tossed him his blade once more and he looked at her, who barely broke a sweat as she stood there, breathing steady and unchanging, a raised brow, leaning against the training sword. 

“Not you per-say. More the fact that you are _hardly_ breaking a sweat. Is this also part of the training? To mock your poor student while the professor is looking like she’s playing chess? Honestly how are you not tired?” 

“I’ve hardly moved.” 

“That’s just mean, Teach.”And that whine combined with a pout garnered him a roll of her eyes but also a quirk of her lips. 

“The battlefield isn’t kind, so neither will I be. Now on your feet. I know you could do better than that. I’ve seen you do better.” 

Now that was a chilling statement, how would she have seen what he could do with a sword. He’d only come late at night to make sure his skills did not become rusty. Maybe an hour a week? How could she have seen it? Did that mean she knew? Did that mean that—

“Stop thinking so much, Claude.” And.that snapped him back to reality with her holding out hr hand, a softer look in her eyes. “That’s what I mean. I know that you are brilliant, that you are always thinking five steps ahead. But sometimes with the sword, you have to feel it. Like an extension of your arm, like—“

“Dancing.” His mother had told him that some dancers were taught with the ways of the sword not because it was beautiful, but because their movements would only help them on the battlefield. Fight like a dancer, and you shall never get hurt. She had once said when he first learned how how to fight. Be light on one’s feet, to not be afraid to move around more. It had helped him in him being an archer, it helped him quickly dodge the incoming axe, lance, swords, and arrows. It helped him become evasive and quickly reach for another arrow to get to the next move.

“Yes, exactly. Like dancing. Wait....is this your way of saying that you want to be the class representative to at the ball?” 

“Now that’s more terrifying, Teach!” He said with a laugh as he took her extended hand and helped himself up. “Dorothea would have my head. She not only transferred to the Golden Deers the month of the ball, but to not become the representative? I think she’d have my head.” 

“Then on your feet. I refuse to have my house leader fail his Lord’s exam.”

_“Are you afraid of me?”_

The voice was small, almost timid, nothing to what he expected from the mercenary known as the Ashen demon. Not from the woman that was adept with any weapon she put in her hands, who could cut down armies, the one that held the Sword of the Creator as her weapon of choice. 

But that wasn’t the woman before him. Now this was a woman still grieving over the loss of a father. And despite what was written in the Jeralt’s diary that was hidden under his pillow, she looked more human than ever before. 

“Teach…” 

“You must have read it, the part where he wrote how I didn’t have a heartbeat. What kind of person doesn’t have a heartbeat. I knew it. I mean of course I did.” A hand held up to her chest as if she was still searching for one, even a faint sound would do. “Imagine having a child that could barely smile, a daughter that was more at home on the battlefield than anywhere else. More accustomed to being covered in blood than silks. ”This was the most she had ever spoken and it felt so broken, wrong, tainted with a sadness that he never wished to hear. “I wonder if he thought of me as some demon from the beginning. Taking away the love of his life, a child born without a heartbeat, one that couldn’t even cry until he was dying in my arms.” 

“Come on, Teach. You must have seen the other entries, he adored you. Jeralt..your father loved you.” 

“It shouldn’t have been my mother, it should have been me. I should have died then. ” 

“Byleth!” That was the first time he had said her name, and as he clasped her hands in his, he looked at her, brows furrowed searching for a bit of hope in those dark eyes. “Your father wouldn’t have wanted you to—You are not a demon. You are not a monster. You are just— _different._ And that’s not something to be afraid of. That’s not something you should be ashamed of.Where would we be without you? You may not see it, but you are the light and the glue of this house! Stars, I’d even claim this entire damn academy. You help others even when they aren’t part of your house, everyone looks to you with awe. I'm pretty sure if they could, Dimitri and Edelgard would join the deers. And let’s not forget how excited the gatekeeper looks when you greet him every morning.”

“Claude…” 

“Do not say that you are some demon, that you are undeserving of the love that your father clearly felt for you. You are not a monster. You are not some beast. You are just different, and I’m not afraid of different. Stars, I love different.” 

A beat before he realized what he said, eyes widening slightly and before he could even take back what he said. He saw a softness return in her hardened gaze, he saw a soft sigh leave her lips. And he held back the excuse he was putting together in his head. It wasn’t like what he said wasn’t true.

He loved different, and she was that and more. 

_“Are you afraid of me?”_

Head snapping up from slumber when his ears picked up on her soft voice. He looked to see the professor awake and looking at their hands interlaced on top of the bed. He was now close enough to see the newly mint colored eyes that matched her lighter hair. Her once dark eyes were now shining with a new life, a new light that made his breath catch at the back of his throat. 

"Hello to you too, Teach." a tired yawn following the remark before he stretched his arms and shook his head. "Again with that question." 

"You didn't answer it. I mean look at me. I would be afraid of me."The change in her hair, the change in her eyes, the fact that she came back from a place where no one could have ever come back. And yet here she was, in front of him, real and very much alive. He should be afraid, that was something he agreed upon, but he wasn't. 

He wasn't afraid of the woman before him, did he find it strange, yes. But someone to be afraid of, never in a thousand years. Rather he was more or less afraid of losing her. The moment she rushed forward to kill Solon, when she vanished into the unknown darkness, being told that she'd wish for death over where she was now. That scared him. 

The way his heart sank into his stomach as he saw her vanish in front of him. The way he felt his heart clench and how he could hear each beat in his ears. He felt like he wanted to scream but there were no sounds to convey the pain he felt in his chest. As if someone had taken a fist and slammed it into his chest, tugging and pulling at his heart. 

For someone who had a plan for everything, the future became dark. Bleak, and he couldn’t breathe. Before his dream seemed so distant, unachievable even. And then she entered into his life and took his hand and told him she'd help him with his dreams, that she'd be by his side in a way that no one ever was before. She gave him her trust, fully, deeply, completely and that was irreplaceable. 

And that was frightening. To know that his life no longer could feel complete, feel right without her in it. For a man who always felt like he was alone, always having to look over his shoulder, to never fully trust even his closest friends, she stood there. 

“Afraid for you. Afraid that I lost you. Teach—when you went into that darkness, when Solis kept saying how you’d never come back. A part of—My heart dropped. I panicked. I felt like nothing good could come out of this. I was afraid of a future without you. Who cares if your eye color changed or your hair…I mean I will miss the blue hair…but…I can get used to this too.”

_“Are you afraid of me?”_

Gone for five years. Gone without a trace. Eaten up by some hole in the ground. How could he tell her that he felt like he was losing his mind as he looked for her. Every logical part of his body told him that she was gone. That she would never return and the promise on the Goddess Tower, the promise that she would make his dreams come true, they all ended that night. 

How could he tell her how he still had nightmares of not being able to save her? Not being able to tell her how he really felt for the former mercenary. How could he possibly—

“Afraid that you’re one of the undead risen that I’ve read in the history books? Hardly.” 

“I…I was gone for five years…I lost five years and I come looking like time hasn’t…”  


“You have the goddess in you…whether I can believe it or not…You’re..” 

“You’re afraid of me?” 

“I’m afraid for you.” He whispered quietly, his hands clasped together, his elbows on his knees as he stared at the ground. “I’m afraid of the burden that may be placed on you. It's not easy being the goddess personified and I don't..I don't want you to have to suffer because of something that you had no choice in. I’m afraid of the distance between us getting further and further…But to be afraid of you? When I just got you back? I am far from afraid...maybe the right word would be grateful? Thankful that you came back to me.....I lost you once, Teach…I don’t think i can do it again.” 

“Claude….”

“This war…it takes and it takes and it takes. We will fighting our classmates. We will be fighting people we had dinner with at the lunch hall. We will be fighting people that we cared for. Before you came..I was afraid what would happen to the Alliance. To my friends. For five years, I lived in fear in wondering how I can take all of this on myself. I may be smart. I may be called the master tactician…but I’m not enough. And I was afraid that…my failures as a leader would…”

“Claude…you’re a great leader. You’ve always been a great leader even when it was just for the Golden Deers.” 

“Yeah…but I leaned on you. I…” Running a hand through his dark locks, he looked at the woman before him in the wreckage of the church. A shining beacon of hope for the Alliance, for Fodlan, for him. “I need you. And…I worry that…You’re alive. You’re here. You’re..I’m afraid for you because I don’t know what that means for you…what it means that it looks like you’ve been frozen in time. What it means that you came here…at the most perfect time…I don’t know….and I’m afraid of the unknown.” 

He felt his hand tremble as lowered his head again. It wasn’t until he felt hers on top of his that he looked up to see her mint colored eyes again. “Then we will take it on together. The unknown….is like the night….it’s dark..it’s scary…it’s….but like you said…a new dawn for Fodlan has arrived and I think that doesn’t just mean me…I think it means us.” 

_"Are you afraid of me?"_

They had just beat Nemisis. They had just ended the war. And they had finally just kissed in front of all the others. Cementing the rumors that they were together in more ways than just friendship. He recalled how she took his hand, a new life sparkling in her eyes, before he pulled her in to kiss her. He could not wait any longer. He would not wait any longer and neither could she. 

Now as they were alone in a bedroom, sleep evading them knowing that the coronation for her new title as Queen of Fodlan around the corner, he felt his heart beat a bit faster. He would not be able to stay. He knew that. He had to go back to Alamyra to finish what he had started here. He had people waiting for him there, but to leave her. To leave her side 

She let her fingers trail down the scars across his own chest. Tracing them lightly, she recognized a few of them, like the one below his collarbone, the one that looked like an arrowhead. He had gotten that one trying to get Marianne out of the way. It was the first time she ever felt scared of losing someone. She had seen war long before joining the academy, she had comrades die in her arms, but seeing him get hit, it made her panic. She had thought she might lose him the next battle. 

She was afraid of what life would be like without him. Even if they won the war, what a world without him be like. She never wanted to see it. She never wanted to live in a world without Claude beside her. She never wanted to live in a world where he did not take her hand and hold it tight. 

For the first time it was him that asked the question and as she looked up to look at his dark green eyes, the one that matched the stone that now graced her ring finger, she felt a small smile appear on her lips. “Claude…Khalid…It doesn’t matter. You’re still you.” 

“But I hid my real name from you all this time.” 

“You had your reasons…and even then…you are still Claude to me. You are still the same boy with that almost smug look on your face.” 

“I was not that smug.” 

“You were very smug.” 

A silence as he drew circles on her bare back, just like how she traced the edges of his scar. Tomorrow he would have to leave her…but he promised he’d be back. He promised her that it would only be a short while. That he would send letters and that time would fly by and soon they would no longer have to be apart. 

“I was afraid of you though.” 

A cold shiver ran down his spine. He didn’t expect that sort of confession. “Yeah?” 

“I was afraid because you…you smiled and yet it didn’t look like a real smile. I always knew you were hiding a part of yourself away…and as you opened up to me, the more scared I got…because the more I liked learning more about you. I became afraid of you because I was afraid of losing you.You became so important to me…that…” 

“By…” 

“I wasn’t afraid of you because of who you were…I was afraid of you because of what you meant to me. How quickly….you became that important person that I wanted to stand next to. I was afraid that my feelings would be unrequited and that one day I’d have to say goodbye to my dear friend.” 

Tucking a piece of her mint hair behind her ear, he smiled down at the woman that he could finally call his and his alone. His fiance, his betrothed, his Byleth. “I love you.” 

“And I love you.” 

_"Are you afraid—"_

“One more minute. ” He said with a smile as he rocked the small bundle in his arms. He looked down at the little infant and rocked the little girl that had his hair but her eyes. Her original eyes, dark blue and as deep as the sea. Rocking his daughter in his arms as his wife watched them with a tired gaze. Azira, his first born, his sweet daughter, his rising star. 

“Khalid…She needs to be nursed.” There was an amusement in her voice as she looked at her husband who had been absolutely smitten by their daughter. “Are you afraid that I won’t let you hold her afterwards?” 

“Absolutely terrified.” He said with a cheeky grin that earned him a pinch to his side. 

“You are an absolute fool for your daughter. And she’s barely a few hours old.” 

“And yet here I am unwilling to let her go.” 

“Khalid.” The stern tone of his wife made him chuckle before he handed the babe back to her and sat on the bed and watched as she nursed their newborn. “Thank you.” 

“For what? You were the one spending the last twelve hours giving birth to this little star?” 

“For not being afraid of me…For…” She paused as she smoothed out their daughter’s hair. “For not turning me away….and wanting to know more about me…for loving me.” 

“I can say the same to you, my love.” 

“I guess we are just lucky aren’t we?” 

“I think we both have something to fear though…” 

“What is that?”

“That little bundle in your arms is going to be the most spoiled princess of the two kingdoms.” 

“We can always have more.” 

“Yeah…wait..What? Are you serious?” 

“I always liked the idea of a large family.” She spoke softly before leaning up to kiss his lips. “And I think our little Azira can use a sibling or two.”  


“A little army of Eisner von Riegans? What a terrifying idea. I’m sure Lorenz is already pulling at his hair thinking of the little genius and how she’ll plot to torment her godfather.” 

“I’m sure Hilda will be thrilled to have more godchildren.” 

“She’ll have to wait her turn again…I think the other deers will be upset if they don’t get a chance to be a godparent to one of our kiddos.” Looking down at his wife and child, he felt his smile stretch, his eyes twinkling in a way that was reserved just for them. The future was supposed to be scary, it was supposed to be the unknown in which he should always be prepared for. But at that moment, there was nothing he was afraid of, there was nothing he could possibly be scared of. With Byleth by his side, there was nothing he had to be afraid of. 

**Author's Note:**

> Finally finished one of my many Claudeth WIP. and Just..I adore this ship so much that I've been writing so many little pieces and not knowing how to finish them. I'm super glad this one is finished though!
> 
> Thank you for reading and hopefully you enjoyed this piece and i'm super excited to write more for this ship. Let me know if there's a certain concept or prompt you'd like me to do for this ship cause really...I have so much love for them! I may even write some for fan arts I've seen on twitter
> 
> You can follow me on twitter @bledstars and just shoot me a tweet there! Or just to chat too :)


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